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Re: Aqua Rite - low salt reading despite new cell

I had the same issue last year. If the cell has been turned off or disconnected for a period of time there is a reset sequence that has to be entered to recalibrate the reading. Right off hand I do not know it, but will have to soon as I plan to reconnect the cell next weekend. I called the manufacturer last year and they told me the sequence and it worked afterwards.

Re: Aqua Rite - low salt reading despite new cell

Jason, on your question, I installed the unit new probably 4 years ago and it worked fine until just a few weeks ago.

That's when the salt reading was way low - causing me to put way too much salt into the pool.

The new cell I ordered from an Ebayer had the cable attached - so there was no swapping parts - just unplugging the old cell and removing it from my water line, installing the new one in it's place - and then plugging the cable on it back into the control unit.

Apapp - I plan to call the Aqua Rite support line today and tell them what is happening and see what they say. If they say it is an issue with the new cell then I will see if the Ebayer will trade this one out for a new one - or I will see if Aqua Rite will do that since this one supposedly had a 1 year warranty.

Maybe there is some reset process I have not run across yet and if so, that would be great to know. I would have thought me putting in a totally new control unit (and with the cell being new) that would have resolved the issue since at that point eveything was new. So that's why I'm thinking it must be a problem with the new cell - unless me running it for a while on the old unit somehow set something in it wrong. I don't think that's the case since I don't think there is any logic or setting in the cell itself. But I will see what the support group tells me.

Re: Aqua Rite - low salt reading despite new cell

I don't think resetting will help, but here is how to try it:

Press "Settings", tap "Left/Right" until you see "Reset Config. to Default. Press +.", press "Plus", press "Plus" again. It should then display "Config Reset Confirmed", and after two minutes go back to normal operation with everything back to factory defaults.

Re: Aqua Rite - low salt reading despite new cell

Jason, I don't think there is a "reset" function on an Aqua Rite - or at least not one I am aware of.

You mentioned hitting "left and right" and a plus sign - and the Aqua Rite controlled doesn't have any buttons for that - only a single button that toggles through various readings.

The Goldline support folks weren't much help either since when I called them from work I wasn't at home to do whatever checking they would have liked me to do.

They mentioned the process to "recalibrate" the settings, as is mentioned several places on the forum - but that doen't do much good if you are not getting a realistic salt reading. So if the "instant salinity" reading is reading too low, you cannot recalibrate the unit to anything higher than that.

So I will continue to try to figure out what is going on and once I finally get it resolved I will post what I found.

Re: Aqua Rite - low salt reading despite new cell

No problem. I appreciate all of the help and suggestions.

I am going to try to call the support line from home tomorrow afternoon - since last time I called they wanted me to do something on the control unit but I was at work. If they don't have any ideas on what to do after that I will probably ask to return the cell to have it checked and /or replaced.

Re: Aqua Rite - low salt reading despite new cell

Well, I contacted Goldline support this afternoon and finally found out my problem.

I purchased the wrong cell for my unit. My old one was a T-Cell-15 and I purchased a GLX-T-Cell 5W - which Goldline said was for a smaller sized pool. Apparently since it was operating on my control unit - which was designed for the larger sized pool - the salinity readings would read out at half of what the actuals were. So the 1800 reading it was getting was actually 3600.

I have contacted the Ebayer to see if I can send this unit back and get the correct one - which is of course $150 higher. If he says no then I guess I will have an "almost new" one listed on Ebay myself.

I guess I should have done some checking but the cells all look alike and the ad read Aqua Rite 20K - which to me meant for a 20,000 gallon pool - which mine is. Apparently that meant is was for an Aqua Rite - 20 model. Not sure why Goldline would have named them that since they were not for 20,000 pools, but oh well.

So this will be a costly lesson when it's all said and done. I do have a new backup control unit now, so if that goes out in the future I'm covered!

Or I may stick that back on Craigslist and see if someone else needs one - assuming I get a new cell and get my old control unit working.

Again, thanks to everyone for the feedback and suggestions. I hope my next post is that I have it working again!